The Black and Grey world
Immediately after hearing the Spell whisper, Raian heard soft whistles of the wind flow against his face.
Attempting to move, he quickly realized his situation. His relaxed mind began to overheat as he glanced around, gathering information.
It only took a few moments to look around, but what he disgested stopped his breath in shock.
He was falling!!!
Not just a shortfall of a few meters or few hundred meters—no, the somber grey sky above and the black earth below were all he could see. He could have looked around longer to map out locations for future exploration, but he chose not to.
Without something else to compare the height of his fall he needed to focus.
The ground was closing in quickly. He needed to focus. The wonders could be explored later, but the impending impact on the ground couldn't be delayed.
Taking what might be one of his last breaths, Raian focused inside himself, recalling his emotions when he first used his aspect and commanded it to awaken.
Dutifully following his command, golden sparks lit a blaze within his body, immediately spreading across and surrounding him in a golden aura, strengthening his body even further.
Raian initially planned to roll on the dark ground to lessen the impact, but the blazing inferno within clashed with the idea. The thought of rolling on the ground made his body shiver in disgust, just as he felt when he swung weapons or fired a bullet.
Forcing himself to replan the landing while keeping from vomiting, Raian had too many things to think about. And the confusion with his aspect made things worse.
'What did I eat to vomit anyways?'
After a plan B and C failed, Raian accepted his fate and braced for impact, facing the black earth rushing up to meet him.
Every time he tried to lessen the impact with a modern maneuver, he felt disgusted with himself not just mentally, but physically as well. His body convulsed as he nearly vomited mid-air.
Exhaling to reduce possible internal damage, Raian met the ground most traditionally. His two feet hit the earth, bearing the full brunt of the impact. He tried to focus all his aura on his legs to reinforce them further but failed.
His will and aspect refused to follow orders.
With a heavy clapping sound, Raian collided with the ground. Apart from the dust that rose after the collision and the small dent in the earth, he managed to walk out of the self-made crater, albeit limping a little bit.
The impact had taken a moderate toll on his essence. The amount was not much, but he remembered Liala and Teacher Julius's advice to conserve as much as possible.
Sitting on the ground, Raian summoned his helpful bottle of vitality. Pain and effectiveness went hand in hand, as he had learned.
Sipping the potion a few times and letting it flow down, Raian braced himself for the incoming pain.
The [Potion of Cursed Vitality] was a simple yet potent remedy. Produced after the death of a titan, the potion filled the user's body with its vitality and healed injuries. The more it needed to heal, the worse the pain.
Back at the academy, Raian had tested it a few times to gauge the right amount to drink for different healing effects.
Small sips could easily heal shallow cuts but couldn't mend a broken limb. To heal a broken arm, at least three small sips were necessary. Without the right amount, the wound wouldn't completely heal, resulting in unnecessary pain. Overdrinking it was a bad idea as well. Even after the wound healed, the vitality continued to boil within the blood. Raian had almost killed himself due to that mistake once before.
Just like hitting your elbow on something and bracing for the upcoming pain, Raian's body instinctively tensed as the pain rushed in.
The last time he felt this much pain was when a winter wolf had bitten him deeply. After drinking the memory his body felt like it was melting from the inside, the blood boiling with power—perhaps too much power—twisting his vision and perception of time.
This time, the center of the pain was his injured leg. Biting his hand to stop himself from tearing off the leg, Raian endured the agony. The sensation of his blood boiling within his body was unbearable, as always, but this time, all the pain was localized in his leg. It was a different kind of torture compared to when his entire body was in agony.
The pain was sharp and dug deep, his nerves sending many kinds of painful signals to his brain. It was so intense that Raian wanted to rip himself apart just to let the boiling blood out.
Eventually, the pain ceased. His back drenched in sweat, Raian tried to calm down by taking deep breaths. His leg returned to its peak condition, and his insides felt better.
Breathing as he used to and standing up never felt this good before 'maybe i am adapting with the pain too easily, healing isn't usually this painful right?'. He turned to look for a place to rest.
According to the Wilderness Survival class, gathering sustenance was his main priority. Then he could try to find others and bolster his survival rate. If he couldn't find drinkable water, there was always the potion, but Raian chose to save it as a last resort.
An awkward smile crossed his face as he imagined a future where he had to drink the [cursed potion of vitality] to survive.
A human needs to drink between 2 to 4 liters of water, depending on their weight and the atmosphere. Raian was around 70 kg the last time he checked far above what a normal 16-year-old should be at.
So predicting his top-notch exercise activity in this cursed place and its unique temperature, his need for water would lean towards the latter being 4 liters. The fckin potion isn't even fully water so the hydration would be even less.
A single tear flowed down his cheek as he wiped it dry. The thought of drinking the potion to hydrate himself depressed Raian.
As quickly as the sadness and self-pity came, they vanished to somewhere to be recalled later. He had a visitor to deal with.
Having taken part in many life-or-death fights, Raian knew when someone or something wanted to take his life. The killing intent was overbearingly obvious here at least people in the slums would try to hide them even if they failed.
Furrowing his eyebrows, he thought 'Shouldn't wild beasts be adept at hiding their intent? That's what Liala told me. Either this one is too stupid to do so, or she was wrong.'
Raising both hands and clenching his fists, he turned to face his guests. Two creatures were rapidly approaching him.
Looking like humanoid crabs, both creatures had eight scythe-like legs propelling them forward. Their hard exoskeletons bore several cracks, one of them missing an arm, with azure blood flowing from where the limb should be.
Their giant pincer arms looked tough, and each arm was as tall as Raian himself. He wondered what could have torn off an arm from a creature like this.
Knocking his hands together, Raian readied himself for battle.
He had a few days to think about how to battle and kill these creatures before they killed him. The main conclusion was to target the legs.
From their appearance, the pincer arms were too tough to tear off, and the carapace looked too sturdy to break through. The only viable options were the legs and the head, but most of the head was covered by the tough carapace, making it uncertain if he could crush it.
Facing the unknown and uncertain, Raian felt no fear against these creatures. At best, they felt as threatening as the winter wolves he had killed. Raian had seen and felt too much to lose against these two water chumps.
As the abominable creatures entered the three-meter mark, Raian raised his right arm in the air, positioned his left arm beside him, and planted his legs, ready to deliver a devastating blow.
To his surprise, the two creatures ran past him.
Baffled by this cartoonish sight, Raian turned to see what the creatures were running from.
His face immediately paled as he started running alongside the two creatures with all his might.
They weren't running from another beast, they were running from a natural disaster. A black disaster was flowing towards them with its unstoppable might, Raian only needed one look to guess what would happen if he was enveloped by this rushing ocean.
'I don't know how I missed such a big problem, but that doesn't matter anymore.' Looking at the two nightmare creatures running beside him, he said, "Boys, let's survive together," encouraging them as they ran for their lives. Refusing to get caught by the blacksea.